THE Government is set to have the final say on whether travellers should be allowed to keep living on land in a Selby village for three more years.

Selby District Council launched enforcement action in 2010 after the site on Sutton Lane, in Byram, was used as an “unauthorised gipsy site”, with a subsequent appeal against the notice being turned down by a planning inspector.

However, the inspector also allowed a year for those living there to find alternative sites, and although this deadline expired last November, a new application has been submitted to the council asking for the families to be able to stay until June 2015.

The issue will be discussed when the authority’s planning committee meets next week.

Officers have said they are minded to approve the proposals put forward by Danny Smith, with conditions including restoring the land to its former condition once the families leave.

Such a decision would then have to be referred to the Government as it does not meet local planning rules.

Byram-cum-Sutton Parish Council has opposed the plans, saying it has “too many objections to list”, while the council’s environmental health department has raised concerns about the land continuing to be used as a travellers’ site.

A report which will go before the planning meeting said domestic waste had been left in a neighbouring field and dogs had been able to leave the site unattended.

The council has also received 22 objection letters, claiming green belt farmland should not be used for travellers’ accommodation, the site had become an “eyesore” due to lorries, vans and scrap metal being stored there, and it could create road safety risks and harm the appearance of the countryside.

The applicants have said a three-year extension would allow time for other permanent travellers’ sites in the Selby district to be identified. They also said the families currently living in Byram should be allowed to stay because of “a lack of alternative available pitches” in the area and “the need to secure continuous education” for children at the site.

Planning officer Claire Richards’ report said new travellers’ sites in the district were expected to be available at the end of 2014, and the original one-year deadline for families to find somewhere else to live had been “unrealistic”. It also said issues arising from the site which local residents were concerned about could be dealt with through other laws.